The new Balkan arms race: Where does Kosovo rank?

Moscow plans to send a military aid package of 30 tanks and 30 modern combat aircraft to Serbia. But Romania banned it following EU sanctions on Russia. Moscow used Hungary to pass weapons towards Serbia, thereby receiving the thanks of Serbian President Aleksandar Vuciq.

So writes German newspaper Die Welt, which points out in an article that a new arms race has been launched in the Balkans.

This new arms race is mixed with political arguments. Albania and Kosovo have decided on a customs union and are growing together economically. In Serbia, this is seen as an attempt to create a large Albania -- a term with which the Albanian government likes to provoke”, the paper writes, Mapo describes.

The paper further stresses that the idea of exchange of territories between Serbia and Kosovo has not yet been removed from the table, unlike what has been said. According to the newspaper, the US is insisting again on advancing this idea.

But who spends more on weapons in the Balkans?

The first are Greeks with over 5.2 billion euros in 2018 as an arms budget. Romanians later come with 4.6 billion euros. Serbs spend 904m euros -- something more than Croats who spend 889m euros. Albania spends 180m euros, a 25 per cent increase by 2017.

Kosovo spends only 63.3m euros.